PISCATAWAY, N.J. (Oct. 1, 2015) – The Rutgers swimming team will compete in the Florida Gulf Coast University Classic on Friday, Oct. 2 to Saturday, Oct. 3 at the FGCU Aquatics Complex in Fort Meyers, Fla., to open the 2015-16 season.
Along with the host Eagles, the Scarlet Knights will see fellow Big Ten Conference member Ohio State. The two-day event also features South Carolina, Buffalo and Grand Canyon University.
Friday’s events will begin at 4 p.m., while Saturday’s action commences at 10 a.m. All races will be live streamed and can be found here.
“We are excited to compete at our first travel meet of the season,” said head coach Petra Martin. “It will be interesting to see how we translate our training from the last few weeks into actual racing. We’ll see great competition over the weekend and I’m looking forward to witnessing our team in action.”
The classic will serve as the debut for Martin at Rutgers. Martin previously served as the head coach at Bowling Green for the last five seasons, guiding the Falcons to top-three finishes at the Mid-American Conference (MAC) Championships in three consecutive seasons.
RU returns 13 swimmers from last season’s squad that went 9-1 in dual action, including four seniors – Sarah Coyne (Osceola, Ind.), Sophie Newton (Leesburg, Va.), Morgan Pfaff (Red Lion, Pa.) and Joanna Wu (Kent, Wash.). During the 2015 Big Ten Championships, Coyne, Pfaff and Wu helped Rutgers secure program records in the 200 (1:40.05) and 400 (3:37.65) medley relays.
Wu and Pfaff each hold two individual program records for the Scarlet Knights. Wu possess top times in the 100 and 200 backstroke, while Pfaff owns records in the 200 and 400 individual medley.
The Scarlet Knight divers will not compete this weekend. They will see their first action of the year when the entire program makes its home debut beginning Friday, Oct. 16 at the Sonny Werblin Invitational.
Swimming news courtesy of Rutgers Swimming & Diving.
Maybe a different stock photo should be used here? Sadly, Rutgers scrapped its men’s swim program a few years ago……
Agreed wholeheartedly!!! The school even turned down an offer by the state legislature to provide funding for at least a year so the university could explore funding options for the proposed athletic teams being cut. At the same time they cut men’s swimming (and 2-3 other sports) they announced a $1,000,000+ renovation to the football stadium and HUGE salary increases for the football coach & women’s basketball coach.